


Four, Two, Three

by LittleLinor



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mentions of protag/atsuro/yuzu, SPOILERS for all of desu and overclocked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 20:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLinor/pseuds/LittleLinor
Summary: There have been longer spells between Cain's resurrections before.





	Four, Two, Three

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this to tumblr and then forgot to upload it here... but with the Stuff happening over there, I'm trying to upload the fics that were on there exclusively, so.  
> Originally a DeSu secret santa fill (that was meant to have more chapters, whoops)

It has been six years.  
Technically, you know it’s not that long. There have been longer spells between Cain’s resurrections before, you know from what he’s told you and from what you’ve gathered from the scraps of the previous Abels’ memories. But every year that passes, especially when your sense of time still retains a lot of humanity (thanks to his presence, and every one else’s, although that’s slowly starting to fray), your fear that you were wrong after all gets worse.  
You should have turned him into a demon when you had the chance. He would have let you, if you’d pushed even a little.   
But you hadn’t wanted to, until the last moment. You still missed your humanity, projected the feeling on him, on Yuzu and Atsuro, on everyone else. No one should have to go through what you did, you thought. Humanity was what you fought for, and you didn’t want anyone else to sacrifice theirs.  
And then, at the last moment, you’d broken. Because he was the last. Because you didn’t want to be alone. Because you felt, already, the humanity you were trying to preserve in those you loved slipping from you.  
But you didn’t ask, didn’t force. You held his hand.  
And wished you were still able to cry.

Even the last year before he died, his retribution sevenfold hadn’t faded away.  
It’s the hope you cling to, while you wait in what you fervently tell yourself isn’t in vain. If his curse had been broken when you conquered God, surely it would have been effective immediately. Why wait for his death? Granted, you wouldn’t put it past Heaven to throw that last bit of cruelty at you, but here’s the good thing about beings being dead: it makes it hard for them to actually control anything.  
So as far as you know, the curse still isn’t broken. How it has outlived the one who cast it, you aren’t sure. But what it should mean is that unless someone actively undoes it (or maybe there was a trigger for it, but if that trigger involved any submission to God, well, good luck with that), Cain’s soul is. “Safe.” In a manner of speaking.  
You tell yourself this as you wait.

You’re not on earth when you feel the tug on the fabric of your existence, but it shakes you all the same.  
You’d been almost ready to start combing hell for souls, just in case you’d somehow missed his as it passed from the world. But no, here it is, making earth vibrate, like a distant buzz coming from the human dimension.  
You laugh.  
“Ho?” Frosty asks, turning to you mid-sentence. You realise you interrupted him.  
“Say, Frosty, hasn’t it been kind of  _empty_  around here of late?”  
“Here, ho?”  
“Well,” you continue with a dismissive wave, “not  _here_  specifically, but around us in general. It’s been the both of us and a lot of underlings for a few years.”  
“… you miss the hee-umans, ho,” he points out quietly, and you don’t bother hiding your wince. He’s been getting more acute with the years. Evolving probably does that to you.  
“Okay, maybe I have. Don’t you?”  
“So-home of them.”  
He pauses, and a silence that isn’t quite sad but still feels nostalgic settles.   
You would almost have been upset if Cain’s soul wasn’t still resonating with your senses.  
“Why do you ask, ho?”  
“How do you feel about a trip to Earth?” He looks at you with a questioning expression and you grin. “Cain is back. Somewhere. I think I’ll treat you to some Okonomiyaki to celebrate.”  
“O-ho-konomiyaki?” he perks up, but the way he’s grinning at you isn’t quite as innocent as it used to be. “And we-hee search too, right?”  
“… yes,” you admit. “But you don’t have to come with me for that part.”  
“Nonsense, ho. Let’s get go-hee-ng.”

It’s been almost a year since you last set foot on earth, and with no specific place to go for, you end up crossing the veil between worlds in Tokyo, out of pure habit.  
It’s where you first crossed, after all, that day after you beat Metatron, where you first came into contact with your heritage during the lockdown, and it’s also, incidentally, one of the places your power is the strongest, thanks to the Shomonkai’s continued worship. Even after Amane’s passing, her influence and their belief remain, and although you have followers scattered over the world, Tokyo is one of the places where they do it in the open, and not secretly in the privacy of their homes.  
You figure you probably owe them a visit. They  _are_  one of the reasons your position is secure, after all. Having believers goes a long way in the power struggles of the demonic realms.

Not keeping the cape had been the right choice. As you make your way to the Shomonkai’s main church, a good number of people stare at you (Frosty doesn’t exactly look human, and anyone with a hint of innate power will sense your demonic aura no matter how innocent you look), but you don’t think most of them actually  _recognise_  you. It’s been long enough since the lockdown. Most survivors have passed away, and their children and grandchildren, unless they’ve met you in person, are generally less aware of what you look like.  
Which is exactly the way you want it.  
When you reach the church, though, it doesn’t take long for several adults to gasp and bow, the other followers quickly catching on and following suit.  
“Relax,” you tell them, “I’m just passing through. Thank you for your continued worship.”  
“I-it’s an honour, Overlord,” the man closest to you answers.  
A priest in orange robes (they’ve been redesigned for a more modern age at least, fortunately, although the colour stuck) walks forward to greet you. You flash him a grin that’s not entirely human.  
“Is Himiko here?”  
“Lady Himiko was meeting with a new follower. Should I call her right now, or would you rather wait?”  
“I think I’ll go in. And meet that new follower of yours while I’m here.”

When the priest knocks on the door, Himiko’s elegant and no-nonsense voice reaches you through it.  
“What is it?”  
“Lady Himiko, the Overlord came to see you.”  
You hear a gasp through the door, your ears still not fully human despite the outward appearance you put on to come here. Himiko, however, isn’t shocked or scared in the least.  
“Come in.”  
He opens the door, and you step in, to find Himiko with a woman whose face still wears the traces of dried tears. Himiko bows, and she hurriedly stands up to do the same, breath short and eyes wide.  
“Good afternoon,” you greet them.  
When they straighten, you’ve let your shape shift into the more comfortable half-human appearance you used to wear most of the time, when Atsuro and Yuzu lived with you, horns curling to the side of your head in a shape that still let you wear your old headphones and fingers and teeth just a little sharper.  
“Overlord,” Himiko answers. “It has been a while since you came to see us in person.”  
The new Maiden of the Shomonkai is a short, charismatic woman who somehow radiates elegance even in Shomonkai Orange. There’s a small smile on her face, one that reminds you more of Izuna’s small, heartfelt concessions to military protocol than Amane’s ones, but the calm with which she speaks in public has definitely been handed down the Kuruzyu line, adopted or not.  
“Too long. I’m sorry for staying away so long. Time is…” you make a small grimace, “… strange.”  
“You are here now.”  
“Indeed, I am!” You smile, and turn to the other woman, who’s been staring at you with eyes wide and lips not quite closed either. “And our guest is?”  
“Wa-watanabe Yuki,” the woman stammers, bowing again.  
“Ms Watanabe wants to join us,” Himiko informs him helpfully, more for her sake than his.  
“I see. Well, you are welcome with us, Ms Watanabe. You have been told the principles behind the Shomonkai and what I stand for, right?”  
“Y-yes! Yes I have. –Overlord,” she adds, hurriedly, as if scrambling for the correct way to address directly someone who’s, for all intents and purposes, the deity you were thinking of sending your prayers to.  
“I will not come and perform miracles for every person who needs one; the world is too wide and complex for that. That being said,” you add with a grin, “I believe in the strength you have. Humans are strong and resourceful. And when they’re weak, well. That’s what friends are for, right? And we can be yours too.”  
She nods, silently.  
“Humanity is where I come from. I still love it. I’ll protect all of you from the harm other forces would bring, as long as I can. So believe in that protection, and believe in your own strength. With help, you will make it through.”  
She blinks, and nods again, silent and unmoving.  
“What,” you smile, “did you expect someone more scary?”  
“I…” She hesitates before continuing, “I did not expect I would get to meet you in person. Thank you for your kindness.”  
“Don’t mention it. I take care of my flock, after all.” You think you feel Himiko shifting slightly behind you, and resist the urge to turn back to her to wink. “The scary part is reserved for my enemies.”  
“I… I see.”  
“Well, I’ll leave you two for now. Himiko, do you have time to spare after this?”  
“Of course. Will my house be acceptable?”  
“Sounds good to me. I’ll come by tonight.”  
You warp back into a fully human shape before stepping out of the room.

You treat Frosty to his food at a nearby restaurant, one that’s seen you a few times over the years. Here, too, your presence brings some awkward silences, but the owner has links with the Shomonkai, and he knows you’ll pay more than the official price to make up for potential lost business. Not that many people would dare actually  _refuse_  you, but you like being on good terms with humans.  
It’s been too long since you had human food. And to think it was a demon’s constant enthusiasm for it that would make you go back to enjoy it again. Without him, you wouldn’t even have thought to.  
The meal takes you into the evening, Frosty’s second helping making you stay longer than most customers would, and after paying (generously, Naoya and Atsuro having helped you legally amass quite a large amount of money while they were alive), you head back to the Shomonkai’s church and the house that stands next to it.

“Come in!” she calls when you knock on the door.  
Taking off your shoes at the entrance feels strangely domestic, and not for the first time, you feel grateful to her for giving you some of the no-nonsense normalcy you used to get with your brother and partners.  
You miss it.  
She’s alone, having followed her grandmother’s footsteps in not getting married, for now at least, and she starts chatting as she tidies up the remnants of her dinner.  
“So what brings you here? There’s got to be a reason you actually took time to come talk in person besides being fond of me, right?”  
You chuckle.  
“Well you  _are_  one of my favourite humans. But you’re right, I did have a goal in mind.”   
You sigh, take a deep breath to steady yourself, and feel a slight pang of irritation when it doesn’t work. Damn your body for not being fully human anymore.  
“… Cain has been born again,” you finally say.  
She eyes you for a second, shuts off the tap, and faces you.  
“… go sit down.”

Less than two minutes later, you’re sitting on the ground opposite her with a drink.  
You wish the alcohol actually did anything for you. The downside of a body that doesn’t get sick is that alcohol is technically a poison, and, well, can’t have that, can we? You drink it, but it doesn’t even reach any of whatever replaced your human cells during your slow transformation into an actual demon, back during the war.  
That being said, you still appreciate the taste.  
“So, where is he?”  
“I don’t know yet. I just felt his presence on earth and came straight here. Might as well start somewhere, right?” You sigh. “Not anywhere near here, anyway. I’d feel it.”  
She nods.  
“Europe or America, then?”  
“Maybe.”  
Silence falls, and it takes a few minutes of silent drinking for her to pick up the conversation again.  
“Are you afraid?”  
“Huh?” You stare, then laugh. “Maybe. I spent the last six years scared he wouldn’t come back. Now I’m scared he won’t remember me. Pretty pathetic for an Overlord, huh?”  
“You were human once. And even gods and demons are fallible. You should be the first to know this.”  
You laugh again.  
“You have a point.” Silence falls again before you finally admit: “I miss him.”  
“Unsurprisingly. You have been together for a long time.”  
“That’s an understatement,” you snicker. “Although I wasn’t aware of it for most of it.”  
“You might not have been consciously, but your souls were still intertwined. That leaves a trace.”  
“Like red and white in a cand-hee cane,” Frosty points out helpfully.  
Despite everything, you smile.  
“By that logic, we should find each other again whether I go looking for him or not.”  
“Probably, yes. But I wouldn’t blame you for looking. Considering the terms of his curse, I doubt Cain has had many happy childhoods. Giving him your support might help.”  
“If I don’t freak out the parents, anyway.”  
“If you locate him, I can keep him under watch to make sure he’s safe. And you can step in when he’d a little older.”  
You pause to ponder her idea.  
“… that sounds reasonable. Too reasonable, almost.”  
“Is that a problem?”  
You grin.  
“Not really. I just didn’t get this far through reasonable plans.”

**Author's Note:**

> NOW maybe I'll finish it... unlikely, but possible.


End file.
